LITTLE BY LITTLE
Matthew Little
If 2009 politically was punctuated by the heralding of the inauguration of the first Black President of the United States, 2010 most certainly will be noted as the year in which, for the first time in history, the chief executive officer of this country has been publicly and deliberately demonized, deprecated and degraded by the country’s media.
Certainly criticism, when deemed appropriate by an opposition faction, is tolerated in our system of government. That is one of the hallmarks of our democracy, a significant reason of how we are differentiated from totalitarian regimes who imprison dissidents.
But the outright inflammatory, vitriolic language that daily impugns the veracity of the president and his legitimacy goes far beyond the pale. Never before in the history of the country has a president been so incessantly demeaned for public consumption.
For example, there is one national radio network whose entire daily format consists of vilifying the president.
Time slots are divided into three-hour segments with each operator attempting to outdo the other. It would seem that such a format would soon become boring, but, to the contrary, their ratings have skyrocketed and the personalities have become household names.
Because of the political nature of their format, one of the top dogs in this game was asked, “With your great knowledge of the political system, why don’t you run for political office?” His reply was, “I can’t afford the drop in pay.”
He is probably right, for according to the latest salary release, this “King of the Obama Bashers” pocketed a cool $400K last year for bashing the prez. The most frightening thing is not that they continue to bash the president of our country, but that their audience continues to grow. Many are from various fringe groups just waiting for a cause to support, but others are from solid stock, buying into this garbage…and that’s what makes it real scary.
In the meantime, President Barack Obama and his lovely wife seem unperturbed by the dirt and vitriol. They are moving straight ahead, acting presidential, tackling all of the intricate problems of the office during these crucial times.
The detractors are busier than ever organizing their campaign for 2011, which is to do whatever it takes to assure that Obama will be a “one-term president.” That is their goal for 2011.
Matthew Little welcomes reader responses to mlittle@spokesman-recorder.com.
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